Being There
by Shadowed Ember
Summary: She was always there, waiting. When she kissed him, her whole world felt complete. And when he broke up with her, the world fell apart. A Harry/Ginny oneshot.


She was always there.

When she was ten, he made her curious. _"Oh, Mom, can I go on the train and see him, Mom, oh please...." _She thought about him that whole year, when her brother wrote home, casually name-dropping.

"_Harry Potter got sorted into Gryffindor with me, and he sat in my compartment on the Hogwarts Express. I think we're getting to be good friends, really. Surprising, right?" _

"_Snape hates Harry. More than he hates the rest of us, I mean. In Potions he asked Harry all these really difficult questions, and took a point away from him!"_

"_Harry turned out to be a brilliant flyer. McGonagall put him on the Quidditch team! He's the youngest Seeker in a century!"_

She hated these weekly reports, but looked forward to them, too. They were her only link with the black-haired boy she was so interested in.

When she was eleven and her brothers brought him home in a flying car, she hid from him. Since he had done so much on his own, rather than when he was a baby, she was even more in awe of him. He seemed wonderful to her.

When she found the diary, it seemed perfect. The ink vanished – her brothers could never find it, read it, and tease her, like they so often did.

But strange things kept happening to her. She couldn't remember what she had been doing. She couldn't remember where she was. Eventually, with her father's warnings about enchanted books in her ears, she threw the diary away, in a place she thought no one would ever find it.

She was wrong. And she ended up in the Chamber of Secrets, waking up and seeing a dead snake on the floor, and Harry Potter looking exhausted. After that, she spoke less than ever around him.

When she was twelve, she had had a long time to become more embarrassed than ever about the events of her first year. She muttered a hello and escaped as soon as possible.

However, she watched him, as much as she could. That was the year when she and Hermione became friends. The older girl had noticed her watching the trio, and had begun to smile at her. Then, when Hermione's cat ate Ron's rat, and Hermione told McGonagall about Harry's new Firebolt, the two started to talk. After that, she noticed Hermione watching her watching Harry more and more, with a funny look on her face.

The events of that year left her reeling. Harry Potter had escaped Sirius Black, who had been caught by the dementors, and who had, in turn, escaped later that night. She didn't know how, but she had a sneaking suspicion that there was more to the story than there seemed, since her brother, Hermione, and Harry broke off talking whenever anyone approached them.

She didn't know what to think.

When she was thirteen, Hermione pulled her aside and gave her some much needed advice.

"_Loosen up around him, Ginny. Just be yourself. He'll like you more if he can get to know you as you, not Ron's little sister who gets nervous whenever he's around."_

She was trying her best to do that. She still turned red when he looked at her, but she talked. She told him about Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, and about Ron's owl, Pigwidgeon. When the four of them left Ron's room, Hermione caught her eye and smiled encouragingly.

Throughout the year, she kept trying out the new strategy. It seemed to be working – Harry would nod hello to her in the halls and common room. He seemed to be noticing her on her right.

She worried, some, about him in the Triwizard Tournament. But she figured he could take care of himself, after three years of near-death experiences.

When she was fourteen, he and she were friends. And when Ron and Hermione went off together to the Prefects Carriage, she was thrilled to share a compartment with him, even though it ended with Stinksap. When she was told that he was starting a Defense club, she jumped at the chance to join, even though she was involved with Michael Corner. Michael wasn't Harry, after all.

After he was banned from playing Quidditch, and she replaced him, she was secretly happy that she would have a chance to show him that she could fly almost as well as he could.

When she saw him with Cho Chang, her heart sank.

She broke her ankle, fighting for him at the Department of Mysteries.

On the Hogwarts Express, it seemed like Ron was on her side, as strange as that sounded. She almost regretted going out with Dean. Almost.

When she was fifteen, even though she'd been more than half expecting it, her heart still leaped a little when he walked into Slughorn's compartment. When he and Ron caught her snogging Dean, she felt more embarrassed than could be accounted for by being caught by her brother. This embarrassment translated itself into anger at Ron.

"_Harry's snogged Cho Chang!" _she yelled, and hoped that her tears would be taken as tears of rage. She tried to convince herself they were tears of rage. She tried to cover it up, quickly. _"And Hermione snogged Viktor Krum, it's only you who acts like it's something disgusting, Ron, and that's because you've got about as much experience as a twelve-year-old!"_

She left, quickly.

She tried, for a long time, to convince herself that she had not fallen in love with Harry Potter. Finally, she couldn't argue with herself anymore, and admitted it. That night, Dean pushed her slightly going through the portrait hole, and they fought. She used it as an excuse to break up with him, although she felt guilty doing so.

When he kissed her, her whole world felt complete.

And when he broke up with her, the world fell apart.

But that day, on his seventeenth birthday, she knew that however long she had to wait, it would work out.

She would be there.

**AN: If you enjoyed it, or even if you didn't, please review. I will respond to every review with substance in it. (That means, I won't review to "Great story!" My automatic response for that is "Glad you liked it! Thanks!" That doesn't mean don't say that, but don't expect a reply. :)**


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